Soap cake



G. VOORHIS' Aug. 13, 1935.

SOAP CAKE Original Filed April 22, 1933 INVENTOR GORDON VOORH/S ATTORNEY Patented Aug. 13, 1935 soar cm Gordon Voorhis, New York, N. Y., assignor to Standard Soap Pulverizer, Inc., Rhinebeck,

N. Y., a corporation of New York Original application April 22, 1933, Serial No.

667,413. Divided and this application November 15, 1933, Serial No. 698,060

1 Claim.

This invention relates generally to the formation of soap cakes so that they will dry out quickly and evenly throughout their interiors and without unduly warping the cake as a whole in such drying. More specifically it consists of a special form of soap cake designed for use in the soap dispensing apparatus shown .and claimed in my co-pending application Serial No. 667,413, filed April 22, 1933, of which this application constitutes a division.

To enable cakes of soap to be satisfactorily and efliciently used in soap shredding or comminuting apparatus such as shown in my said pending application it is essential that they should be dry and important that they retain throughout the periods of drying before and during such use, their original contour so that they may fit fairly closely into the space of special shape provided in such apparatus to receive and hold them during the comminuting or shredding operation.

It is also important that the shrinking process always occurring with time after the damp cake has been taken from the molding apparatus and before its use has begun or completed, shall proceed without unnecessarily warping the general shape of each cake so that it might bind in position when inserted in the apparatus, and this holds true for soap cakes designed for use in any dispensing apparatus of the general type disclosed in my said application, whether or not such apparatus presents the special features of construction there shown and claimed.

The best form of soap cake at present known to me embodying my invention, and fulfilling the above specified requirements is illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawing, in which, I

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred form of cake, and,

Fig. 2 is an end view and partial vertical cross section of a stack of such cakes arranged in the manner generally used in practice for storing and drying out. Said figure of the drawing illustrating the facility of air circulation for rapid drying of the soap.

Throughout the drawing like reference characters indicate like parts.

I indicates the soap-cake generally which is molded in the generally rectangular form of a cake of considerable thickness, but has the wide, deep groove "I of triangular cross section extending longitudinally along one of its faces. Preferably this groove should have a width at the face of about one half the width of the latter, and a depth somewhat greater than half the thickness of the cake, substantially as shown in the draw- As a result of the above described configuration the cake is practically divided into two sections 99, 9% by the groove l0, each of which sections 5 has substantially equal transverse dimensions in all directions so that all parts will dry from surface to central axis at a substantially uniform rate, and complete such drying in considerably less time than would be needed under the same 10 atmospheric conditions to dry out an ungrooved cake of substantially the standard form shown.

The uniform drying out process thus rendered possible tends to prevent warping the cake out of shape. The reduction in time of drying econo- 15 mizes in the quantity necessarily tied up in stock, as the product must be thoroughly dried out before it is marketed for use in the shredding or comminuting, vending apparatus, which is Warranted to reduce it to fine powder,-a thing that cannot be done if any substantial part of the cake of soap is still moist.

According to standard practice freshly made soap cakes are usually racked up for drying in stacks such as shown in Fig. 2, with sheets of 25 oiled paper I00, I00, between each two adjacent horizontal layers. In such arrangement the grooves I 0, I 0 form fines or channels for easy and constant circulation of air, which facilitate and expedite the drying out process. 30

The advantages of the invention, therefore, may be briefly recapitulated as follows: It saves time in the process of drying the soap cake to the degree necessary before it can be used in the dispensing apparatus; it effects such drying evenly throughout the entire cake and so avoids warping it; it thus ensures the dry cake fitting properly in the apparatus, where it will neither jam nor rattle around during the operation of cutting it into the fine powder to be dispensed to users.

Thus in the dispensing apparatus shown in my before mentioned application S. N. 667,413, allowed Jan. 16, 1935, the V-shaped groove in the cake, shown here and there, serves to guide the latter along the .V -shaped rib on the interior of the casing in the most eflicient manner while it is being forced down upon the shredding knives. Also, when the soap is used in the ordinary way in a wash basin, the deep medial groove allows it to be easily broken into two smaller cakes, so that only one need be used at a time but will produce the desired amount of suds, thus practically doubling the useful life of the original cake, a large portion of which is always wasted when used as one large mass.

Commercial soap must contain at least 12% by weight of moisture at the end of the process of its manufacture. But such soap cannot be used in dispensing shredding apparatus until two thirds of that moisture has been dried out. This requires exposure to the atmosphere for many days, and with cakes of the usual shape this requires exposure of the upper surface thereof, which in any modern city will collect from the atmosphere in that time enough dirt and soot to render them unsaleable. My invention, however, makes it possible to stack the cakes as shown in Fig. 2,, without any upturned surface on which atmospheric impurities can deposit, and still permit air to freely circulate through the stack and reach nearly to the interior of every cake.

I am aware that it has been proposed to provide the surfaces of cakes of soap with small protuberances to keep them from sweating when stacked, or to facilitate somewhat the circulation of air between said surfaces, but that is not sumcient to produce quick drying, and would permit the deposit of dirt during any prolonged drying period. After long experimentation on a large commercial scale I have found the form of cake here shown to be the only satisfactory solution of the problem, which presents conflicting requirements above outlined. Also, only this form of cake of a right angled isosceles triangle with its apex at the bottom of the groove and a depth approximately one half the thickness of said cake, running lengthwise of one face thereof; whereby when a series of such cakes are stacked end to end with said grooves in line channels of equivalent large cross section are thereby formed permitting the free circulation of air through the mass, and when inserted in a shedding and dispensing apparatus having a V-shaped guide rib closely fitting into said groove, such cake may be firmly held in position under stresses of the shredding operation and accurately guided in its cooperation with the shredding apparatus.

GORDON VOORHIS. 

